Randy Carney is on his way to becoming the next Mississippi County judge, having topped Steve Stallings in Tuesday's elections, though problems with electronic voting machines have caused a delay in final election results, according to members of the Mississippi County Election Commission.
With more than 350 votes left to be hand-counted Tuesday night, no official election results were released. Commission Chairman George Hale said final numbers may be as late as this afternoon or even tomorrow.
"There was a problem with the machines recording early votes," said Commissioner Tom Wiktorek. "The ballots will have to be counted by hand."
The majority of the ballots to be counted by hand were in the south end of Mississippi County.
As of 11 p.m. Tuesday night, vote totals for the judge's race were: Carney, 6,631; Stallings, 3,616.
Carney said he was looking forward to working with all the citizens of Mississippi County as county judge.
"I really appreciate all the confidence the citizens of Mississippi County have shown in me, and I promise to do the very best I can to make Mississippi County an even better place to live, work and raise our families," Carney said.
In other county races, Osceola Mayor Dickie Kennemore was leading his challengers by a wide margin.
Kennemore had 1,123 votes compared to 846 for Ronald Mahan, 83 for Denise Douglas-Williams and 18 for Jimmy Cook. If the numbers hold those margins, Kennemore will be re-elected without a runoff.
In Manila, Wayne Wagner was elected mayor over Debra Joni Isbell by a vote of 481-319. A third candidate, Terry W. Vassar, received 51 votes.
Sheila Spurlock was elected Leachville's mayor over Tommy Stone. Spurlock received 289 votes to Stone's 198.
In Joiner, Sissie Winford Ross won the mayor's seat by a garnering 87 votes. Kevin Love received 63 votes, Lonzie W. Griffin received 10 votes and Wilton J. Goudeax received 6 votes.
In Luxora, Jasper Jackson won another term as mayor by receiving 128 votes over challengers Dianna C. Walker's 81 votes and Lonnie Joe Harvell's 20 votes.
In Keiser, Jerry Larue took the mayor's seat with 114 votes compared to 104 votes for Tony McLean.
In statewide races, Mississippi Countians supported Sen. Blanche Lincoln, who received 5,512 votes compared to John Boozman's 4,350. Jane Gray received 255 votes and Trevor Drown received 290. Statewide, Boozman was the winner.
In the First Congressional District race, Chad Causey carried Mississippi County with 5,614 votes, to Rick Crawford's 4,285.
Gov. Mike Beebe won heartily in the county, receiving 7,732 votes to 2,529 for Jim Keet and 204 for Jim Lendall.
In the Lt. Gov.'s race, Shane Broadway received 5,747 votes from Mississippi Countians to Mark Darr's 4,278.
In the race for Attorney General, Dustin McDaniel received, 7,703 votes in the county compared to Green Party challenger Rebekah Kennedy's 2,054 votes.
In the Secretary of State's race, Pat O'Brien received 5,794 votes to Mark Martin's 4,326.
Charlie Daniels won the county's support in his bid for state auditor. He received, 7,631 votes to Mary Hughes-Willis' 2,060.
Land Commissioner candidate L.J. Bryant took the county with 6,211 votes to John M. Thurston's 3,832.
State Treasurer Martha Shoffner received 7,455 votes in the county compared to 2,198 for her opponent, Bobby Tullis.
dhilton@blythevillecourier.com